Grey Water in Washing Machine....what could it be? - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

barry12345 · #1 08-16-2018, 09:42 AM

Modern appliance to me are just like modern cars. Far more to potentially go wrong. Although the overall lifespan of few brands really outclass many of the others. Cost per mile or cost per washing load is directly rated to your income stream for tolerance. Also when a household appliance goes down. It pretty much demands quick attention.

These values are identified pretty well with cars. Not so much with appliances now. I depend more on my appliance guy to guide us. Trying to stay away from the real junk at least. He sells new and used as well as personally services them. I think he has developed a following where it is known he rebuilds certain brands of older units. For people that want reliability back.

I assume by now most makers of appliances are importing as much offshore content. As cheaply as possible from primarily China. My guess is they are reluctant to pay for higher quality build components from them as it Impacts their bottom line.

We live in a much different economy than years ago.

The consumer is hard to pin down today. What motivates them to buy what they do in all too many cases is a pretty open question. I have resigned myself to buying a new dishwasher about every five years now. If it goes longer without a major issue fine. Simply because that has been about our average for quite some time now.

Occasionaly when following some new car owners of specific brands. I have to wonder what they were thinking as there is so much negative information out there on what they have purchased.

Perhaps they only lease them and disgard them. People that are on moderate income streams do not have to think more but they should. Their resources are limited.

As an older couple our resources fortunately are not limited. At the same time part of this happened because we were always both conservative and watched what we buy.

It is almost ludicrous that the newest stove for the cottage is an older stove. Simply because our appliance guy told me the new ones have serious issues in salt air enviroments about every two years. Think expensive new digital control boards. I pick up the replacement tomorrow afternoon. It looks like new but is far from it. The oven calibration has been checked out. Important as the wife is really fussy about oven performance. Under the burner pots is not just plain or painted steel and like new. Partially digital but the oven control is manual. It may have been an expensive stove in the day.

The oven door spring or springs let go in the otherwise good stove. I had a quick look but there is some serious damage. I found parts of the broken linkage that holds The spring in the bottom drawer. A good used door would have solved the issue. If you could find one.

vwnate1 · #2 08-15-2018, 05:52 PM

Lots of good food Down East where I grew up, lots of not so nice things too......

vwnate1 · #3 08-16-2018, 10:26 AM

I remember the TV adverts for those washers with the bobbing agitator, they looked weird, i wonder how long the transmissions lasted with all that going on .

SWMBO only wants new whenever one breaks, we have to buy a matching pair ~ we have Foster kids so our washing machines get heavy duty use .

Mxfrank · #4 08-16-2018, 06:55 PM

The bolts holding the cement blocks on my Neptune loosened up and the blocks went for a walk on their own. A bit of locktite fixed that 4ever.

When I was a kid, my mother had a Bendix, which was a washer/dryer in one unit. Not stacked units, just one front loading machine that switched from wash to dry at the end of the rinse cycle. Lasted 21 years. That was a great machine.

Diseasel300 · #5 08-19-2018, 12:33 PM

This thread must be like Beetlejuice, said the GE's name too many times and jinxed it. Motor relay took a dump this morning (GE's don't use a centrifugal starting switch) and seems to have welded the timer contacts and cooked the motor. The downside of using 30+ year old appliances....they can go any day and at any time...

Squiggle Dog · #6 08-21-2018, 02:39 PM

If I owned my own home, I would have nothing but 1950s and older appliances in it.

Mxfrank · #7 08-21-2018, 08:38 PM

If you had a 50's home, you'd have to have one of these.

The best part is, there was no dryer vent. Instead, there was a cold plate which was cooled by a constant flow of cold water. The hot exhaust would flow across the cold plate, which would cause the water vapor to condense. The water would be pumped away, and the exhaust continuously recirculated. Lint was caught in an efficient trap. You'd waste a lot of water, but there would be no exhaust. Perfect for an apartment, condo or small house.

barry12345 · #8 08-22-2018, 09:35 AM

I think the son in law mentioned. Something similar of a water system was available as an add on. For dryers not too long ago. I did not ask for any details .

Of note though a lot of home fires are caused by accumulated lint in the clothes dryers and vent stacks. It probably is a bad ideal to leave home with a load drying in the machine.

Took the house out cross the street from us as an example. Vastly improving the view. They took the insurance money and decided not to rebuild.

I am as negligent as a lot of others probably in not cleaning the vent system out at least once a year. I do not know if it is against code or not but I never use the plastic flex type hose in a clothes dryer venting system. I still see them sold in hardware stores. The supporting wires and irregular surface conformity probably aid in lint accumulation. Plus the plastic can catch fire as well.

Another member mentioned wringer machines. There always was a small chance of feeding your hand and arm into them in the day. Not the best experience in life but probably not that uncommon. Actually probably still a good choice to wash out greasy and dirty rags in a busy mechanical shop. If an abundant supply is not cheaply available. I am still highly cautious of the spontainious combustion possibility when dealing with greasy rags of course.

I even wonder how many lighter lint fires in the aluminium pipe go undetected. If the dryer is running it is exhausting so it may be undetectable.

Squiggle Dog · #9 08-22-2018, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mxfrank

If you had a 50's home, you'd have to have one of these.

The best part is, there was no dryer vent. Instead, there was a cold plate which was cooled by a constant flow of cold water. The hot exhaust would flow across the cold plate, which would cause the water vapor to condense. The water would be pumped away, and the exhaust continuously recirculated. Lint was caught in an efficient trap. You'd waste a lot of water, but there would be no exhaust. Perfect for an apartment, condo or small house.

That's pretty neat. That's good that it's atomic-proof. I dream of restoring a home that was built in the 1930s and furnishing it with 1930s-1950s items.

barry12345 · #10 08-22-2018, 02:58 PM

Fairly large undertaking to bring a house from the thirties up to some semblance of todays practicality. I am currently Building and installing window boxes to get the widows 3 inches further off the exterior walls.

This house was well insulated for the times forty years ago when we built it. Now I am adding two and a half inches of foam. Horizontally to increase the insulation over the wooden bones of the place especially.

Fun and games in the hottest weather I ever remember here day after day. I am going to try to heat and cool the house with a ton and a half heat pump. Hopefully by using the furnace blower at half speed constantly to aid distribution.

The challenge might be to upgrade a 1930s house in an almost non detectable fashion.

Maybe you can keep paint on trim etc in your locality. Painting exterior wood in my climate is pretty much a lost cause. The original electrical and plumbing will usually have to go. Unless already replaced. Houses of that period seldom had any closets Unless they were upscale.

I often wondered why most earlier car garages where usually so small as well. Convention of the times perhaps. Kitchen cupboards where usually both very limited in size and crude as well.

I examined and talked with an owner pouring over half a million into an earlier house about a year ago. This house was in a very slow area where even labor was fairly cheap.

Actually one of our nephews buys and renovates older houses to rent out. Currently we are aiding him financially as he gets over the hump. He was going to sell a couple to get some working capital. We thought it was better if we helped him instead as real estate prices are rising here.

vwnate1 · #11 08-22-2018, 07:46 PM

Well Squig ;

I'm old and have been living in older houses my entire life, it's not all roses and fun let me tell you .

For one the tube and post two wire electrics in your house weren't designed to carry more than 20 watts or so plus they're ungrounded .

Then you look at the lack of insulation and poor weather sealing, this means cold in Winter, hot in Summer and drafty year 'round .

I have lots of old things in my 1923 Craftsman Bungalow (mostly millions of termites), the antique telephones have very poor sound quality no matter how much you love them (a LOT n m case) .

On and on.....

Yes, old houses can be very nice but you'd best be handy and rich .

Myself, I love the Victorian houses I lived in from the early 1950's through the mid 1970's but they're few and far between in Los Angeles unless you're very wealthy .

Just thinking of you making a nice old house good again like you're doing to this W116 makes me smile .

Squiggle Dog · #12 08-22-2018, 03:22 PM

The house I lived in with my mom for a few years was built in 1936. It was a nice house other than there being too many layers of paint over everything, it having been completely overdone in "old woman craft" wallpaper, and the original wiring often catching fire along with not being able to use the microwave if the washing machine was running, etc.

Later on I rented a small home that was built in the 1930s. It had a central furnace with one duct that heated all the rooms from the hallway. After that, I was living with my sister in a house that was built in 1910. It was a large house with nice glass doorknobs. No real issues with that house.

My grandmother passed away and I was given the opportunity to rent the cinder block house that my grandfather built in 1947. It was tight quarters, but had five bedrooms. I didn't move in, though, as it would have been a large move from Arizona to Utah, and the house was really run-down with the floors caving in.

I wouldn't mind building a house, either, but I'd want to built it solid out of real materials instead of just timbers and sheetrock. I'd also want to use vintage light switches and things. I can't even keep a job to support myself, so it's not like it will ever happen.

Diseasel300 · #13 08-22-2018, 10:27 PM

The GE lives! New timer, a wiring repair, and a new starting relay later and it's back up and running like a top. Looks like it gets to Filter-Flo for the foreseeable future.